Belonging
by CharmingDestiny
Summary: Max has been recaptured by Manticore and is assigned to a new unit, where she starts to discover more about herself. MaxAlec pairing.
1. Belonging: Chapter one

**Title-** Belonging  
**Pairing-** Max/Alec  
**Disclaimer-** I do not own Dark Angel, James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee does.  
**Summary-** Set after season one, but before season two. Max has been re-captured and is about to be assigned a new unit.

* * *

**Chapter One **

Max walked down the long and narrow hallway towards Renfro's office. She knew that this was decision day and right now it was going to be decided if she was either going to be slung back into Psy-Ops or if she would have to act the good little soldier and do what Manticore wanted her to do.

Max mentally shook her head at the thought of being their little puppet. She didn't want to do what they wanted but what choice did she have? Go back to Psy-Ops for a few more months? That wasn't a choice. She knew deep down that she would have to keep pretending to be 452 and that she would have to do what Manticore says. But it's not like it would be for long, she was going to escape when her time was right.

She had been stuck in this place for almost five months already. For the first week she had been recovering from her heart transplant then as soon as the doctors said she was fit enough, Renfro gave the orders for her to be put in re-indoctrination and sent to Psy-Ops. Just thinking about going back to Psy-ops gave her the chills, remembering all the lasers and other forms of punishment they had used on her.

_No_. She had no choice, no matter what she wasn't going to be sent back there. Because if she was there, she had no chance to escape from this place and that is what she was going to do; escape.

Ever since being captured she had always remained determined that she was getting out of here and that she could go back to her strange little world that she had grew to love. Just the image of being at crash with O.C, Sketchy and Herbal was enough to keep her going. Hell even hearing Normal's 'bip, bip, bip' would get her through the day.

The hardest part about being back though was the constant glaring she got from her fellow transgenics. But remembering what Jace had been like when she had first seen her since the escape, she supposed that she couldn't really be surprised at why the others disliked her so much. For the last eleven years they had it beaten into their heads that the 09'ers were just traitors and couldn't be trusted.

Stopping in front of her destination, she took a deep breath and tried to focus on the task at hand. The guard on her left tapped on the door of Renfro's office. Waiting for a reply, Max was still until she heard a voice from inside telling her to enter.

This was it the moment that she had been waiting for. Max couldn't help feeling nervous, but even if she was, she was damned if she was going to show Renfro that. As she entered Renfro's office she made sure her face was un-readable, so no one would be able to determine what she was feeling.

Standing in the centre of the office, Max raised her hand and saluted a seated Renfro "X5-452 reporting as ordered, Ma'am". Standing silently she waited for Renfro to speak.

She had fooled all the other superiors into thinking she was just X5-452, another Manticore soldier, but she knew trying to convince Renfro would be a harder task. The woman wasn't director of Manticore for nothing, even though she didn't know much about genetics she was a bitch and that was what kept everyone in line.

Renfro stood up from behind her desk and walked forward, never taking her gaze off the silent X5 in front of her. "So 452, I have been reading your reports, it seems you have been doing well". She picked up a report off her desk and started flicking through the pages. "From all these reports it seems you are now ready to be put on active duty", putting the report back down on the desk she looked at 452 and smiled. "Yet, from past history, I was just wondering if you are ready yet? Do you think you are ready yet?"

Max remained still, but moved her glance to look at Renfro. "Yes Ma'am, I do believe that I am ready for active duty". Her heart had started pounding as soon as the words had left her mouth and she was actually quite proud of her self for not stammering. But she knew if Renfro didn't believe her then it would be back to Psy-Ops.

Renfro tried to study the X5's face. She believed that 452 had been broken down. The once cocky X5 was nothing like she was when she had first been captured; she now listened to orders and did what she was told. It had taken almost five months for it to happen, but slowly it had. But she still thought that maybe the X5 had a little hope that one day she would escape again.

Renfro nodded her head in reply "Very well. I have also read your reports from before your little escape, it seems you were one of the better soldiers, in fact you were the best female in your unit, while X5-599 was the best male."

_'In fact you were the best female of your unit and X5-599 was the best male.'_ Max saw a series of flashbacks of Zack, her brother who had sacrificed himself to save her life.

"Zack", Max whispered. A flash of fear washed over her as she realised that Renfro was still in the room. She checked to see if Renfro had noticed and breathed a sigh of relief that thankfully she must of whispered it so low that Renfro hadn't even known she had murmured.

"See this puts me in a difficult position." Pausing she looked at 452. "I have to decide whether or not you should be placed in a new unit. As you know every transgenic is part of a unit which they were placed in ever since they were children, but due to yours escaping this means you will be placed in another one, or like your sister... Brin." Max noted the sarcasm as she used her sister's name instead of her designation, obviously trying to get a reaction out of her. "...Who was never assigned a new unit, but instead was assigned the task to re-capture your siblings."

"You see each unit is put into ranking orders. Your old unit, the one you were in before were one of the top ranking units. Well... until you escaped. See, this is where the difficulties lie. You have proven to be in one of the high ranking units with your strength and speed, however you lack the training of a top rated soldier."

Max tried to focus on what Renfro was saying, but she was also curious about the new unit she was going to be put in. She had known that once she was put into active duty she would be assigned a new unit, but it was still weird to think of being in a different one from her siblings.

"452 go back to your cell for now, I will send for you tomorrow and I will tell you my decision then." Renfro smiled, She already knew what she was going to do with 452. However it would be better done tomorrow. _Yes, tomorrow._

"Yes Ma'am." Max nodded, a little surprised by the turn around by Renfro. One minute she was explaining about putting her into a new unit and now she was sending her back to her cell.

Exiting from Renfro's office Max tried her hardest not to smile. A rush of emotions and questions passed through her. _-I'm not going back to Psy-Ops. I'm getting put into a new unit. What will they be like? What will my new CO be like? Will he be as good as Zack? Will they like me? Will they accept me? -_

---

Renfro watched 452 leave her office. Walking back round to her desk, she sat on her chair, Picking up her phone she waited for the other line to answer "This is Renfro, I want you to send X5-494 to me." 

He had just finished training when he had been told that the director wanted to see him. Knocking on the office door, X5-494 entered when he heard the director's voice.  
Closing the door behind him, he stood still and saluted. "X5-494 reporting as ordered, Ma'am." Remaining silent, he waited for the director's orders.

He wondered why he had been requested, he couldn't think of any reason as to why she would need to see him so urgently. _-This can't be good news. -_

Renfro nodded at the X5 "At ease". Watching him relax a little Renfro picked up the file from her desk and gave it to him, gesturing for him to open it.

Opening up the file, 494 saw a report on an X5. Looking at the top left corner he saw a photo of the X5 in question. The young woman was really quite beautiful; she had long dark hair and brown eyes to match. Wondering how he had never seen her before if she was an X5, he looked slightly right to the picture at her designation. He then realised why; X5-452. She was a '09 escapee. He looked back up at Renfro, waiting for her to explain.

When he had finished glancing at the report Renfro began to speak. "I know you must be wondering why you have a report of an ex X5 escapee in your hands. Well to keep the answer short, she will be transferred into your unit."

Trying to keep the shock from his face, 494 remained silent. -What was the director thinking? Had she gone mad? How could she suggest moving this ex-escapee into his unit? She would be a security risk. God, she would probably try to escape as soon as she got the chance. - Trying to figure out what was happening, he decided to try and get more information. "Permission to speak Ma'am."

"Go ahead, 494."

Hearing the director's reply, 494 spoke. "Are you sure this is a good idea Ma'am, due to 452's history? She has missed out on 10 years of training and from past experiences may be un-reliable". He hoped that the director didn't take it the wrong way, but how could she even consider putting her into his unit? The idea was insane.

"I agree X5-452 has proved to be un-reliable in the past, however I think this situation might have its advantages. She has proven to have potential and I believe that if she is placed in a top-ranking unit then it might help her to become much better trained. Of course she will have to be put in extra training programmes but I'm sure that with the help of a high ranking officer like yourself it will turn out to be quite successful."

"Yes Ma'am" 494 agreed. How could the director be making such a big mistake? Didn't she realise that 452 was an ex-escapee, which meant on the first possible opportunity she would probably try to escape again?

"Good, 452 will be joining your unit tomorrow. Any questions?"

494 suppressed the urge to snort. "No ma'am."

"Ok, you can go now." He nodded and made his way out of the director's office. He couldn't believe what was happening. He was being lumbered with an ex-escapee, who had missed out 10 years of vital training and worst of all he was in charge of helping training her. _-This is just great. -_

* * *

Big thanks to my beta Sian.Also if you have the time, please review because I would love to know what you think. 


	2. Belonging: Chapter two

Entering his units barracks 494 walked over and sat next to 576, who was lying on his bunk. Sensing his CO's annoyance, 576 sat up and faced him. "So what did the director want?"  
  
Rolling his eyes and sighing. "She wanted to tell me that we will be getting a new member in our unit."  
  
"Who?" He couldn't help the surprised expression that crept on his face. It was quite unusual for X5's to be transferred into other units, it only ever happened a few times because of one circumstance or another.  
  
"X5-452, the ex-escapee." From 576's expression, 494 could tell that he was as pleased about the news as he had been when he had first found out.  
  
"You're serious?"  
  
He nodded his head in reply. It hadn't actually occurred to him before what the others in the unit would think to this. He knew that he didn't like the situation, and from 576's face neither did he. He was sure none of the others would either.  
  
"Shouldn't she be put in one of the lower ranking units? I mean she's missed out on over ten years of training."  
  
"I know. However the director thinks she should be placed in this unit, because apparently she has potential. Whatever that means."  
  
"So when is she being transferred?" 576 knew that the rest of the unit wouldn't like this at all, all of them had grown up for the last eleven years thinking of the escapees as betrayers and now one would be in their unit.  
  
"Tomorrow." 494 already knew the question that he was about to ask and to be honest it wasn't a task he really wanted to do.  
  
"When are you telling the others?" he said, gesturing to the other members of the unit.  
  
Standing up 494 sighed, "I might as well do it now and get it over and done with."  
  
---  
  
Sighing, Max rolled on to her side. She hadn't been able to sleep all night. Not that she needed to because of her shark DNA, but being stuck in Manticore there wasn't much else to do. It wasn't as though she could go out and ride her baby. No, instead she was stuck in the confinement of her cell where all she could do was think.  
  
All night she had been thinking about what Renfro had said earlier, about being put in another unit. Trying to imagine what they would be like, she had started to think about her siblings again. A year ago she still didn't know where they were or if they were safe. In fact the only thing she had known was that twelve of them had escaped that night.  
  
Then she had found Zack, or rather he had found her. She remembered back to that day, she had been so happy. Ten years she had spent searching for her siblings and then all of a sudden her big brother appeared. She started to see flashes of Zack when she had first met up with him again and when the police had caught her and was about to give her up to Lydecker. Max felt a rush of guilt build up inside her. Lydecker would have taken her back to Manticore that day, but Zack had saved her and gotten himself taken instead. He had sacrificed himself then, like he had when he killed himself to save her life. He was dead and it was her fault.  
  
Trying to shake the images out of her head, Max felt tears fall from her eyes. She had failed Zack, just like she had failed Brin, Tinga and Ben. She had promised Brin that they would rescue her, but they didn't and know she had been brainwashed. She had also failed Tinga along with her little boy, she had promised him that he would get his mum back, but instead she had let her get killed. Then there was Ben, not only had she failed him, but she had also killed him.  
  
Deciding that she had to stop thinking about it, Max got up off her bed and sat on the floor and began to do sit-ups. She began thinking about her new unit again. _What if they don't like me?_ From most of the contact she had with the other X5's, Max had learned that she and her siblings were thought of as traitors. But maybe this lot would be different?  
  
---  
  
Ever since informing his unit about 452 yesterday, none of them had been happy about it and they had all been voicing their opinions to him and it was starting to give him a headache. The only time of rest he got was during training, but as soon as it was over and they were sent back to their barracks they had all been discussing 452 again.  
  
Now he had finally managed to get a minute by himself. Resting against the wall, he tried his best to relax. 452 wasn't even here yet and already she had stirred things up, he couldn't imagine what it would be like when she actually arrived.  
  
He thought she would have arrived first thing this morning, but she hadn't. Then after training he assumed she would be there when they got back, but she wasn't. Part of him hoped that Renfro had changed her mind and that 452 wouldn't be transferred to his unit, but another part of him was intrigued by the ex-escapee and wanted to meet her. He had heard from some of the other X5's in other units, that when she had first arrived she was always disobeying orders and mouthing off to the director. But after her trip to Psy-Ops it seemed that she had been broken down and started taking orders.  
  
Ever since 452 and her unit escaped, he had always been taught that she and the rest of them were traitors. For a second, part of him actually admired them that they were able to escape from this place as kids and because they had hid from Manticore for so long. But he mentally slapped himself. _No, they were traitors._ He knew that their life wasn't easy before, but after the 09'ers little escape it was them that were the ones that got punished, not them.  
  
He tried to relax, but as soon as his eyes closed he sensed someone approach and his eyes snapped open.  
  
"You got a minute?" Recognising the voice before he even looked at up, he knew that it was 528.  
  
"Sure" He already knew what it was about or rather who it was about.  
  
"It's about 452. I know you don't know any more then what you have already told us. But I was just wondering, what do you make of the situation? You never really mentioned your views."  
  
"I don't know." Knowing the truth of his own words, he shrugged not knowing what else to say.  
  
Smiling in return, she sat beside him. "I'm surprised that she isn't here already."  
  
"Me too." 494 repressed the urge to smirk. Sometimes he swore 528 knew his thoughts. She always seemed to bring up the things he was thinking about or had been wondering about.  
  
"Hopefully it won't be too much longer. The unit is already wound up about the fact that she's been placed in our unit and the waiting is only winding them up more, at least when she's here the tension will hopefully settle quicker."  
  
"Hopefully." He agreed, even though her arrival would probably stir things up a lot more, the waiting was worse and was making the others tense.  
  
Glancing around the unit, 528 sighed. "You can't really blame them for being angry about the situation though, for the last eleven years we were told that they were traitors and can't be trusted and then Renfro goes and places one in our unit."  
  
"Nah you can't, but at the same time if she is going to be put in our unit then we are going to have to trust her? Right? I mean we can't let her on missions if we don't? But how can we? She would probably try to escape the moment she was out on the field."  
  
Hiding the smirk at the obvious aggravation that her CO was feeling, she shrugged. "Depends, I guess. We know that she can be loyal, well at least she was to her old unit. Maybe she will be the same to us? But then maybe she won't. In that case we will just have to make the best of the situation, I'm sure she will know that its in her best interest to work with us, because that is the only way she will be able to survive in the field."  
  
---  
  
Max heard the guards coming down the corridor before they even entered her cell. She had been waiting all day for them to transfer her to her new unit, but no guards had come.  
  
The waiting was the worst part about the whole situation, at least if she got sent to her new unit this morning then it would have been over and done with and she could deal with it, but having to wait around meant that she had time to think, which always lead to remembering. Brin. Ben. Tinga. Zack. Logan. OC. As the memories started to flood through, Max shook her head and tried to concentrate on anything but remembering. The only upside about Manticore is that it always kept her busy during the day, which meant that she could avoid the memories, but at night she couldn't avoid them at all. _Damn shark DNA._  
  
As soon as it came to lights out the memories would always come, but after being told she was getting transferred yesterday, last night had been the worst since being re-captured. All night she had been wondering what her new unit would be like.  
  
Two guards entered her cell, she recognised one of them who she had seen about in morning drills, but the other she didn't recognise. He didn't look that different from any of the other guards really, he was tall and had an average build, but something about his eyes were different. They reminded her of the way Lydecker used to look at them, with no fear. Even though they were the ones in charge, all the other guards were cautious of them because they knew with a flick of a finger they could be dead, but this man didn't hold any fear in his eyes, instead he just look annoyed.  
  
The guard just looked at her with a disgusted look on his face. "State your designation."  
  
"X5-452 Sir"  
  
"452 get your stuff you are bring transferred to your new unit"  
  
"Sir, yes sir" Picking up her small bag of possessions she followed the two guards. She felt a tight knot forming in her stomach. She tried thinking back to a time when she had been more nervous, but if she ever had she couldn't remember it right now.  
  
---  
  
Things had started to settle down since earlier and 494 had actually gone about half an hour without hearing the designation 452. Now that he thought about it, it was actually quite amusing that a group of highly trained soldiers who under any other circumstance, no matter how hard, would be able to just suck it up and deal and none of them would even voice their complaints once. But when it came to a 09'er joining their unit it was a totally different matter.  
  
But as every minute had passed, she still hadn't arrived so the whole unit had just presumed she wouldn't be transferred tonight, not this late anyway and some had even hoped that Renfro had come to her senses and decided not to transfer her to their unit at all. But he knew that would not be the case, they were probably just too busy to do it today and was going to do it first thing tomorrow morning.  
  
Just as he was about to get up and join the rest of his unit he saw 246 spring out of his seat and before he could even question why he heard the footsteps of people approaching. Jumping up he saw that his entire unit had already started to form a line and he quickly followed suit standing in front of them waiting for the guards to enter their barracks.  
  
---  
  
The guards both stopped and Max mentally kicked at her self for being so damn nervous. She could feel the knot getting tighter and tighter in her stomach and felt the urge to be sick, she was so nervous right now and it took all of her Manticore training to make sure that she was showing no emotion.  
  
Taking one last deep breath she followed the guards into her new units barracks. She stood still behind the guards and looked straight ahead as she was trained to, as the guard moved out of the way her gaze fell on to a familiar pair of hazel eyes.  
  
Max stopped dead in her tracks and stood frozen unable to move.  
  
_Oh my God._  
  
_Ben?_

* * *

Ok I just want to let you know that in this story Alec (494) is not Ben's clone, him and Ben are real twin brothers. All the other ex's don't have clones either including Max, so Sam doesn't exist in this story. Its just because I don't think it makes sense how Lydecker was looking for them for ten years and didn't know what they look like considering they all had clones. So for this story there are no clones.  
  
Thanks to all who have reviewed and also thanks to my beta Sian. 


	3. Belonging: Chapter three

494 watched as two guards entered his unit's barracks and even though he couldn't see 452 because the guards were in the way, he could sense that there was another person behind them. He wished that one of them would move so that he could see her, he knew that he shouldn't care but he wanted to see the girl that had managed to cause so much chaos at Manticore during the past few months, since her return. 

He got his silent wish as the two guards moved out of the way showing the ex escapee and he let his eyes discretely wonder over her. She looked a little different from the photo in her file, she now had straight long brown hair instead of the curly locks from before, but she was still as every bit as beautiful as in her picture, even more so in person. As his gaze moved to look at her face, he saw the shock that filled her eyes as she looked into his.

Max felt all the air leave her lungs the very moment she looked into those familiar hazel eyes, it was as though everything around her had just frozen as she was assaulted with a ton of pain filled memories.

She saw flashbacks of Ben as a child in Manticore and the times he had told her and the rest of her brothers and sisters stories, She then saw the two of them fighting in the woods and finally she saw her cradling him in her arms while he told her about the good place as she snapped his neck with her own hands.

A familiar chill that always came, whenever she thought back to that day, travelled down her spine and she had to repress the urge to shiver. However as she continued to look into the hazel depths in front of her, she couldn't help but feel that something was different about them, she couldn't place what, but there was a difference.

"452 this is your new unit, unit 6"

The voice of the guard that had brought Max to the barracks brought an abrupt finish to her thoughts and she finally remembered that there were other people in the room.

"And this here" he said as he nodded in the direction of the man that looked like Ben "is your new CO, 494."

_- 494? He's not Ben. Of course he's not Ben, Ben's dead. -  
_

Another bout of emotions run through her as she took in this new information. Part of her was relieved that this man wasn't Ben, as that meant he wasn't a prisoner of Manticore like herself, but another part of her wished that it was him, because that would mean he wasn't really dead. She knew that it could never be true though, she had felt Ben die in her arms and no matter how much she wanted to see him again she knew that it would never happen.

Looking at the man in front of her now that she knew he wasn't Ben, she was actually quite surprised that she hadn't figured it out. She knew that something was different, but now she knew what. True he was identical to Ben, but now that she looked, she saw that there was a difference in them. 494 looked more confident and his eyes didn't hold the confusion that was present in Ben's, when she last saw him. It was strange, he looked absolutely identical to Ben except for the difference in their eyes.

She was aware that while she had been thinking the guards had been giving her instructions, but she only really focused on them when she saw that they had started to move towards the door, and she suddenly felt a feeling of panic wash over her and she wished that she could leave with them and face her new unit another day. But she knew that she was being ridiculous and that it was now or… well just now. - _Let's get this bitch over with then. -  
_

For the first time since she arrived she glanced at the other members of her new unit and saw that all of their eyes were fixated on her. _- Oh God. _- Remaining still, she tried to look the part as a perfect soldier. As they continued staring at her she couldn't help but feel the tight ball that had been growing in her stomach since she arrived getting even bigger by the second. Deciding that her best option was to ignore them, she tried her best to make it seems as though she wasn't even affected by their stares. Not that she was. Nope. It didn't bother her in the slightest.

_- God how long could a group of people keep staring? -  
_

494 couldn't believe how ironic the situation was. It was a weird feeling to have someone you hated for so long stand right in front of you. For the last eleven years the 09ers had been nothing but grief to him and now there was one standing right in front of him, but the loathing anger he thought would be present, there wasn't. Of course he felt a simmer of anger but he felt more intrigued then anything. He knew that she had been shocked when she had first seen him by the emotion that had showed upon her face, but when she had learned that he wasn't 493 he saw the Manticore mask slam down over her face, and now she had a whole unit gaping at her and she hadn't even batted any eyelid. He couldn't help but be a little impressed.

Looking round at his… their unit he decided that it was now or never for everyone to get introduced. But he knew that introducing them was the easy part, the hard part was figuring out what he would say after that was over? It doesn't matter he thought to himself, as long as you start talking you'll come up with something.

But before he got the chance 564 stepped forward so he was standing beside him. "So 452 you finally arrive" he said sarcastically, but looking at his eyes Max could see they were anything but sarcastic.

Inwardly cringing because she knew what was coming, she wished that she could have just gone back to a minute ago when they were just staring at her. But she knew that it was unavoidable and she was going to get the onslaught about how she was a traitor and how she didn't deserve to be here. Its not like she wasn't used to it, for the last few months any X5 that she had contact with had either just scowled at her or had called her a traitor, some had even threatened what would happen to her if she tried to escape again. All the times that they had called her a traitor she had fought the urge to just lash out at them, but instead she had just ground her teeth.

And not for the last time she guessed she had to bite her tongue and not say anything back, because although she felt like kicking the son of a bitches ass it wasn't really the best plan to piss off the people that she had to work with, especially as she didn't know how long she was going to be stuck here for. So instead she was going to clench her teeth and remain silent as though she hadn't heard the stupid asshole.

"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" he continued tauntingly "Or did all those years on the outside with your other little 09 traitors make you lose your manners? Huh? Come on aren't you going to answer and Tell us how you aren't really to bla…"

"Enough"

494 watched as every eye fell on him, including the 09er who was obviously shocked at his outburst. But the person who had the biggest shocked expression was 564, who looked not only surprised but a little hurt by his outburst. He felt guilty that he had made him felt that way but he was the CO and therefore he couldn't have any one in his unit singled out.

"452 as you already know I'm 494 and this is unit 6" he said with a nod in the direction of the rest of the unit. He didn't know what he expected for her to say but he at least hoped that she would reply. "Sorry that the balloons and streamers are gone, we did actually set them up for this morning but as you didn't arrive we took them back down and packed them away." Still no reply, God what did it take for this girl to talk? Maybe Psy-ops really did do a number on her. Deciding to take pity on the girl he tried a different angle. "Anyway we only have half an hour till lights out. How about I show you your bunk?" He was actually surprised when she nodded her head, but he didn't let it show. Indicating for the rest of the unit to stay put he started to walk down the corridor towards their units bunks while 452 followed him.

---

As she walked she kept sneaking glances at 494. At first when he shouted he had surprised her, because she wasn't expecting any one, let alone the CO to stand up for her, but when he had cracked hat joke about the balloons, that was what had really astounded her because for some reason she had expected him to sound like Ben. But he didn't seem to have that deep confusion or the anger that was present whenever Ben had talked, instead he sounded confident, and in control, in fact he had sounded a bit like a smart ass.

Stopping he turned and looked at 452 to see her quickly look away and realised that she had been staring at him as they walked. "This is your bunk here, I take it you already know the daily protocols"

"Yes I do"

She repressed the urge to smile when she saw his shocked reaction at her actually talking, but it was quickly replaced with a grin that Max would bet had turned a thousand girls into jelly.

"So 452 actually speaks? Amazing." He said in a mocking tone. Max was confused, one minute he was all solider like and next he was being a Smart Alec. However being rude and taunting was one thing but mocking was another, and she didn't want him to get away with it, with out saying something.

"Thank you sir"

Somehow he couldn't help but think that her reply was meant to have been a mock back at him, of course she had said it in the soldierly fashion but he knew when he was being mocked.

"Goodnight" he said, eyeing her suspiciously before he started to walk back towards his unit. He didn't know why, but he felt like smiling at what had just happened, of course the girl was a little weird and confusing and of course there was the fact that she was a 09er, but for some reason he couldn't help but think that her being around would make things a little interesting.

* * *

And just before anyone says that Max is acting a little out of character here, I just wanted to mention that Manticore is watching her so she has to act the prefect soldier. I never got how in 'Designate this' she would just start talking to Alec hwo she did considering he could of reported her and that would of blown her escape chances. Don't get me wrong I loved the episode, I just found that part quite bizarre. 

Also thanks to Ellen for beta-ing this chapter.


End file.
